I am so sorry for the insanely long wait. Life has been crazy. But I will try to update more often. And this chapter might be a little confusing, but I'm telling it through Vicki and Troy's conversation. If you are confused or have any questions about what happened, message me and I'll try to unconfuse you. I can be confusing...LOL. Thank you so much for all the reviews and FYI this is just a filler, but I'm closing things up soon. ENJOY!
Breathe, Gabriella, just breathe. Natalie will be fine. Gabriella kept repeating that to herself. She wanted to pace around the hospital waiting room, her legs were aching to, but her mind was just too tired and told her to stay put. Why is this happening? To Natalie of all people. To Natalie.
"To Natalie, not to her." Gabriella whimpered out in a shaky voice, her head collapsing to her knees. Natalie was more of a sister than a cousin, a sister. She always knew Natalie had issues, but this was too much. This can't be happening to her. This can't be happening to this family, to Nick. It's impossible.
"Gabs, you're talking to yourself." a voice said, breaking her out of her trance. It was less of the voice breaking her out of her stupor, but the hand that was now lain on her shoulder, the warm hand of Troy. "Calm, Gabs, calm." he whispered to her. But she couldn't be calm, not when this was happening. She had to cry, she had to lose her mind and cry, what else could she do?
It seemed like an eternity of tears leaking out of Gabriella's body, her chest felt like there was a truck blocking her airwaves, she was passing in and out of sleep and had given up on trying to decipher her hospital nightmare from her hospital reality.
"I don't need another child locked up in a mental hospital. I honestly don't." Vicki said, taking a deep breath while she took the seat next to Troy and Gabriella while staring at her daughter. Gabriella was comfortably curled up in Troy's arms, breathing with a shaky breath and looking as though she was having the most unpleasant of dreams.
"I think she's just kinda shocked." Troy said, commenting on Gabriella's dishelved appearance. "Obviously she didn't expect it."
"I didn't either." Vicki whispered out, looking like she was about to cry too. "I always assumed that Natalie was scarred from her parents death, but delusional? I never saw that coming."
Troy suddenly felt like he himself was insulted. Natalie wasn't delusional. She was special. She was heartbreakingly beyond comprehension. She was gone now.
"I don't think she's crazy." Troy mumbled, afraid to look Vicki in the eye, he didn't want to be the next in the hospital. "I think she's scared."
"Troy! She has issues!" Vicki said in anger standing up to look Troy directly in the eye. "A man was innocently walking by her in the park and she accused him of murdering her parents! She was asleep when they died. She knows nothing and she sees this man and starts hysterically screaming murderer!" Vicki said, tears rolling down her face, her eyes not capable on staying in one place anymore. They were scanning the room they were in, landing on the most random things.
"Did you ever consider she could be right? She found them dead, she probably knows better than anyone what happened. Maybe she recongnized a voice or something." Troy said, he couldn't believe this was happening. Natalie saw something in this man, she saw murder. Just like she saw something in Troy, his past. She looked and Gabriella and knew that she was lying about something. She saw what no one else could. Troy knew deep down, Natalie was special, not crazy. Should he tell Vicki about the letters? Would that even help after her meltdown at the park?
"Vicki, Natalie's been drawing me pictures." Troy suddenly blurted out. Vicki just looked at him like he said the most idiotic thing in the world.
"Of course she did!" she said with a brush of her hand. "It's her way of relieving stress."
"No, she draws pictures of something that happened in my life and I remember it after seeing the picture." Troy said, looking at Vicki severly in the eyes. Her eyes looked like they were screaming bloody murder. She slowly advanced towards Troy and knelt down to his level.
"I am putting one child I am responsible for in a mental hospital. You have a brain injury and a reason for your mistake. But understand, you are mistaken. Don't make me make this choice again." she said before walking away as though she had not just threatened him.
"So that's just it? You are locking her away? For one freak out?" Troy asked, his voice escelating.
"It's happened before Troy! It's been enough!" she screamed back at him. A sudden reality hit Troy.
"Has she met this man before?" he asked, referring to the man that Natalie began screaming at while she was at the park.
"He is a neighbor of ours. That we try to avoid. She doesn't like seeing him." Vicki said quietly.
"Because he killed her parents!" Troy shouted, fully believing Natalie's accusation of this man as a murderer now. Natalie was right, she was always right. And she was right about this.
"Not another word about murder or her parents. Do you understand?" Vicki muttered out in an almost sinister voice. "You are still a brain injury patient and you can end up back here with Natalie easily. Understand?"
Troy silently nodded. "Can I say goodbye?" he asked. Vicki nastily turned her head, "No," she said. "I already said goodbyes for you. If she's found sane enough in three months you can say whatever you want then. But don't corrupt her. Or my daughter," she said, shooting a glance at Gabriella who was still laying in Troy's arms, sleeping through the argument. This reminded Troy that she could sleep through about anything, just like him. "I can take her away from you too." Vicki said coldly before turning on her heel and walking away, Troy seeing her in an entirely new light.
"Gabs, what the hell is going on here?" he asked his sleeping love. She just curled closer to him and laid her head on his chest. For one second Troy forgot the troubles. But that was a fleeting second, because he could've sworn he heard Natalie screaming. Screaming to come home. Screaming for her mother.